point The Chaos Daemon army is not quite like other armies in the Warhammer 40k universe. This is because the Chaos Daemon army was designed for the Warhammer Fantasy game ( now replaced by Age of Sigmar ) and ported across to 40k.
The Chaos Daemon army plays quite differently to other 40k armies. This is mainly due to the numerous special rules. The addition of these rules also make the army difficult to play. I would suggest that the Daemon army is not a good one for beginners, but a great one for advanced payers that fancy a challenge!
This page has been written for the Warhammer 40000 8th edition rules and Index: Chaos army list.
- Also download: Index Chaos Errata (free)
- Also buy: Discount Warhammer 40000 8th edition rulebook from Element Games
- Also buy: Discount Index: Chaos book from Element Games.
General Chaos Daemon Tactics
Often the best was to use the Chaos Daemon army is to use it as an attachment to a Warhammer Chaos Marine army. What the Chaos Daemon units bring to the Chaos Marine is psychic powers, monstrous creatures and close combat units. The number of deep striking units are useful for snatching objectives or take out key enemy units.
Chaos Daemons come in four flavours one for each of the chaos gods; Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Slannesh. So what do you get if you use them all together? Utter Chaos!
If you are keeping with a pure Daemon army, but include faction from all the Chaos Gods then you will not be short of Characters or close combat units. Where you will need to apply some thought is to the heavy support and fast attack sections.
You need Fast Attack units to spearhead assaults and grab objectives. Look to the Tzeentch units that can fly, and the Slannesh units that are quick on their feet.
- Also see: Chaos Space Marine Tactics
Chaos Daemon Special Rules
The Chaos Daemon army come with a number of special rules. These rules are quite different from other Warhammer 40k armies.
Daemonic Ritual
As I mentioned above, one of the joys of running a Daemon army alongside a Chaos Space Marine one is that your characters can summon daemons on to the battle field. Now be warned, this is not without it’s difficulties and risks. Also if you are playing a points matched game the points cost for the summoned daemons comes out of your reserve points. However it is great fun to do and highly recommended.
You can only summon units that have the ‘Daemonic Ritual’ ability. The Chaos Space Marine has four units listed, in the Index: Chaos you can find many more units (most of them).
All Chaos Characters can perform rhw Daemonic. Ritual. This includes both Chaos Space Marine characters and Chaos Daemon characters.
Daemonic
All units with this ability (most of them) get a 5+ invulnerable save. This is very useful because their regular save is usually awful!
The Four Gods of Chaos
If you are familiar with the Chaos Space Marines you will have come across the four chaos gods; Khorne, Slaanesh, Nurgle, and Tzeentch. With the Chaos Marine army the use the chaos god’s traits is optional. There are enough unaligned choices available to create a undivided army. With the Chaos Daemon army you will need to be totally conversant with the chaos gods traits.
Each of these four gods have their own characteristics. These characteristic are passed on to the gods followers.
Chaos Undivided
If you are a Chaos Space Marine player you will be use to units that are aligned to no single Chaos God. This does not happen in the Chaos Daemon army. That is except for the Daemon Prince Be’lakor, the first Daemon. Word has it that some time after Be’lakor was created he used his un-aligned nature to play one chaos god against another. Learning from their mistake, all future Daemons where aligned to a single Chaos God.
Daemon Prince Be’lakor Tactics
Be’lakor is a HQ character.
Games Workshop do not do a model for Be’lakor but as he is a Daemon Prince with a daemon blade and Malefic Talons. This means that you can take a generic Daemon Prince and state that you are using it as Be’lakor.
- Also buy: Discount Chaos Daemon Prince from Element Games
- Also see: Warhammer 40k 8th Edition Daemons of Khorne Tactics
- Also see: Warhammer 40k 8th Edition Daemons of Nurgle Tactics
- Also see: Warhammer 40k 8th Edition Daemons of Tzeentch Tactics
- Also see: Warhammer 40k 8th Edition Daemons of Slaanesh Tactics
Daemons of Tzeentch Tactics
The daemons of Tzeentch give up brute force for magic and trickery. In Warhammer 40k magic is represented by psychic powers. Tzeentch units use these psychic powers as ranged weapons. Unlike the daemons that follow other chaos gods, many of the Tzeentch troop units can use magic to manifest psychic powers too. The downside though is that Tzeentch units are generally poor at close combat.
Tzeentch units work well with Khorne units that can act as body guards to the more vulnerable Tzeentch units.
Ephemeral Form
Tzeentch daemons are even less grounded in the real world than other daemons. To show this is the game they get +1 to their invulnerable saves. As most daemons get +5 save this means that you only need +4 to shrug off most hits. This is a save though so it does not work against mortal wounds.
Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch
The Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch is a cheap elite choice for a daemon army. This means that can fill you required elite slots and you do get points to spend on the rest of the army. This specially important in low point games.
Exalted Flamers have 3 options during the shooting phase.
Games Workshop do not do an Exalted Flamer model on it’s own. You can find an Exalted Flamer in the ‘Herald of Tzeentch on Flaming Chariot’ box that if you do not place on the flaming chariot, can be placed on a regular base.
Daemons of Nurgle Tactics
Nurgle units are the second most popular chaos units. Nurgle specialises in diseases and poisons. The Nurgle units tend to be tough but a bit slower than other units.
Nurgle units work well with Slaanesh units that have the speed that the Nurgle units don’t have.
Disgustingly Resilient
The creatures of Nurgle are disgustingly resilient. Their slimy hides cause many blows and shots to slip off where the would have bitten less viscus targets. To show this in the game Nurgle units with this rule get to roll a D6 for each wound not saved and on a roll of a 5 or 6 that 1 wound is ignored. As this is not a save it works for mortal wounds too.
Nurgle Psychic Powers
Nurgle psychic powers are all about disease. The ‘stream of corruption’ has a short 7″ range but can dish out D6 mortal wounds to larger (10+ models).
Daemons of Slaanesh Tactics
Slaanesh units are focused of speed and the excess of pleasure. This means that they are fast but fragile. Slaanesh units also have access to a number of psychoactive drugs and narcotics.
Slaanesh units work well with Nurgle units that have the toughness that the Slaanesh units don’t have.
Quicksilver Swiftness
Slaanesh daemons hunger for speed and excitement. Units with this ability always fight first in the fight phase. If there are other units in this fight phase with the same special rule, or have charged that turn, then you take turns fighting with those units before fighting with all the others.
This ability tends to mean that you get to get your strikes in first. If you out number your opponent it is reasonable to expect to wipe out the enemy unit before they can react. So with this in mind you want to hit first and hit hard. Focus your assaults and choose targets that cannot call on support.